Independent Co-Educational Day & Boarding School for Ages 2 - 18. The Best of British Boarding by the Sea.

The Sunk Garden project

Reinstating the Sunk Garden at Saint Felix School is a worthwhile project to create a useful, safe and pleasant space for use by school pupils, staff and visitors.

It will also refurbish a fitting memorial to Old Felicians who lost their lives during the First World War in the year that marks the Centenary of the Armistice in 1918.

This is a significant project which will require the assistance of the whole school community including pupils, staff, parents, Governors and Old Felcians. The project will look for corporate sponsors, sponsors from the whole school community and good will in order to minimise the cost to the school.

This project, with ongoing support and maintenance will turn the Sunk Garden into a space that will be available to the School for generations to come.

The Saint Felix School Sunk Garden, in the grounds to the southwest of the school buildings, was designed by Miss Silcox during 1919-20 as a memorial to Old Felicians who died in the First World War. The work was carried out by Bertha Steadman, then in charge of grounds, and her team of groundsmen. Miss Maia Bond, an Old Girl on the staff, helped Miss Silcox take measurements and a Madamoiselle Buquet supplied the French words for the sun dial. A plaque in the school building is inscribed with the names of those commemorated.

CURRENT SITUATION

The Sunk Garden is virtually derelict. The borders have become overgrown with weeds, the paths are badly damaged and supporting walls are crumbling. (See Annex A)Annex A: SUNK GARDEN PHOTOGRAPHS

AIM

The aim of this project is to reinstate the Sunk Garden at Saint Felix School.

VISION

The refurbishment of the Sunk Garden will concentrate on creating the following:

A fluidity of planting that creates a visual impact.

Scent giving plants that encourage wildlife whilst being fairly self–managing over the holiday periods and that are also rabbit tolerant!

A relaxing environment for its visitors whether these are pupils, staff, parents, friends, or members of the wider community.

A ‘working garden’ and outdoor classroom that could be used to teach horticultural techniques to visitors in the future.

A community garden open to local gardening groups to assist with the maintenance and development of the garden.

The design will initially focus on reinstating the long double border. A physical boundary will be created by 5ft to 6ft poles at regular intervals along the outer edge of the deeper border and shorter 4ft poles in the border that runs alongside the sunken lawn, so that visually the height of planting and structures falls in height from the outer edge of the garden leading the eye onto the lower planting and then the sunken lawn and pond at the lowest level. The posts will be topped with finials and have ropes fixed between them. Each post will have a climbing plant near it which will be trained to both the post and the rope. Between each post the planting plan will aim to repeat itself to provide visual impact. This will be achieved by retaining some of the original planting where possible and from replanting new plant species that replicate and reflect the original planting scheme (See Annex A). The repeated planting plan is based upon the border being 1.5m deep with a post being placed at approx 4m intervals. The plan would start with low growers in the front and behind this the height of planting will increase. (See Annex B)Annex B: PROPOSED BORDER DESIGN

A letter will be sent to all Parents, Staff, Chair of the Old Felicians and Governors. A copy of the letter will be posted onto the school website. This will briefly outline the Sunk Garden project and highlight the levels of sponsorship.

£400 would sponsor a complete 4m section with dense planting and wooden plaque.

£50 would sponsor a post with climbing plant and wooden plaque.

£30 would sponsor a specimen rose and wooden plaque.

£10 would sponsor a shrub for the back section of a border.

£5 would sponsor a plant for the lower and mid section of a border.

Donations of plants from the planting lists would also be very welcome. We highly recommend purchasing from an established nursery such as Wootens of Wenhaston, as their plants were used in Lynda’s Garden and are good quality. Kirstead Nursery is also a good source.

We need 24 – 28 garden volunteers to commit to clearing a 4m section of the garden, in addition ad hoc volunteers can be allocated to each section for the time they have available.

Each section should only take a day to clear but by offering four days the volunteers can dip in and out of the work and hopefully fit it in around other commitments.

The work will entail clearing, replanting, separation of plants, levelling of soil. Volunteers should bring gloves, spades, forks, hoes, rakes if they have. Full training will be given and light refreshments will be provided.

We also need a bricklayer to remove the damaged coping and patch the retaining walls.

If you are able to volunteer for your time please contact Mrs Greenacre on jgreenacre@stfelix.co.uk